Tunnel Hill Mushrooms, which grows fungi in train tunnel, has plans for expansion
Inside an old underground tunnel is a Tasmanian business which would make Super Mario’s heart skip a beat. If all goes to plan it could be ready for a new endeavour. Here’s what’s on the cards.
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Inside an underground railway tunnel a unique Tasmanian business which has been growing for the last 15 years.
When owner of Tunnel Hill Mushrooms Dean Smith opens the door to his Mount Rumney operation, a curious mist seeps out into the gully, making it all the more mysterious.
Once a crucial link in the line from Bellerive to Sorell, the old railway infrastructure is now the backdrop to rows and rows of mushrooms.
“The tunnel was built in 1891, the trainline went from 1892 to 1926 and then they shut it down, it was costing too much money to maintain,” Mr Smith said.
“We were just using the tunnel for storage and an old guy knocked on our front door who was in the mushroom industry, he wanted to look at it and that’s how it started. He suggested we think about growing.”
The mist is man-made, from a system installed by Mr Smith to improve growing conditions.
“It is a good place to grow mushrooms, it does have its challenges, it’s got a high humidity which is important to get them to fruit,” he said.
“It’s a pretty good environment because of the constant temperature, also the air flow as well.”
He grows a wide range of unique mushrooms, ones harder to find than the average supermarket variety, including lions mane, pink oyster, turkey tail, and White Elf Oyster.
The business mainly supplies mushrooms to Tasmanian restaurants, but very occasionally appears at markets.
The uniqueness of the business has attracted a lot of interest over the years, and the tunnel has even been featured in a few Tasmanian television series.
Now Mr Smith is looking to expand the agritourism potential of his business.
“I only grow in the first 20 metres, we have access to 90, I don’t use the back 70 metres, that’s purely because of the cost to get the infrastructure right,” he said.
“We are looking at pushing the grow room back further and then hoping to convert this into a long table dinner space.”
“We’ve had a couple of small events out here, we had the fungi festival this year, they’re sort of one offs, not regular things.
“We’re looking at having the cruise ship passengers coming here next month as well.”
All that’s needed is funding to get the infrastructure right.
“For us to sort of have more regular events we need all access toilets,” he said
“It’s more about making people a bit more comfortable.”
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